New report on 'comfort women'

Previously unpublished confessions by Japanese soldiers add new weight to claims by Chinese women that they were forced to work as "comfort women" for Japanese troops during World War II, lawyers said yesterday.

The All China Lawyers' Association published the results of an investigation that revealed the names of 33 "war criminals" and two Chinese women who said they had been forced to work as sex slaves.

In 1993, Japan acknowledged its State role in the wartime program and apologized to the victims, most of whom were Chinese and Korean.